Curse IV: The Ultimate Sacrifice

Catacombs is a nice timepasser and pretty decent lesser known horror movie. This takes place in modern times(well, the late 80's)and is about a powerful demon locked away in the catacombs of an ancient monastery that is breaking out and reeking havoc, The acting is pretty good and the pacing and f/x are solid. Catacombs plot and style is nothing new and borrows heavily from The Exorcist, The Omen films and other, better films in the same genre. It does generate a spooky atmosphere and I would say, there is not much that will blow viewers away, but its done well enough that most people can sit through the film and more ardent fans of similar horror films should enjoy it.

Starts Great, 10 rating, then crap acting, dialogue, story quickly moves to a 1 rating. Complete Failure! Great beginning at an earlier time with a demon and exorcism, cinematography, editing, sets, creepy acting makeup blood. Beginning is a solid 10 rating. The rest of the movie. The present day. We get the female lead, which was OK, but nothing special. The acting all around was cheaper than soap opera. The dialogue sucked. The story sucked. The atmosphere sucked. The whole freaking movie was set in a monastery and its grounds. Boring slow crap. Nothing is explained. Why did the demon decide to escape at that point in time. Was it because of the girl? Who knows. The sets were decent in the catacombs and the cinematography was good. The rest of the movie sucked. It's incredible with suck a strong beginning that the rest of the movie fails in such a glorious way. They had a budget, good sets and cinematography. Some decent actors with crappy lines. The hero priest was one of the worst actors. The female lead was OK, but nothing great. The rating is probably closer to C/D, or 4 stars. But for the complete incompetence and failure of a boring slow nothing happening movie, it is an F, 1 star. The only reason to watch this movie is to compare your thoughts to the reviews listed here. Maybe you can find some entertainment there.

I first saw this in the early 90s on a vhs. Revisited it recently to end the curse of The Curse marathon. Horror movies set in isolated monasteries and that too with a demon who can uncuff himself with his magical power n also turn a metal crucifix into black serpents is very rare and looks n sounds fantastic. This movie started off in the above mentioned manner that i loved the first ten mins but then it became very boring. The concept of statue coming to life is spooky but here in this movie it is a big lol. The plot - In the 17th century, a monk possessed by a demon is captured and sealed in the catacombs of a monastery only to be released in the present day when a young n attractive woman visits the monastery in order to do some research against the wishes of a monk who is second in command. Laura Schaefer's character gets possessed but we dont get to see any nudity or sex.

In the 16th Century, a group of monks trap a demon in the catacombs under the Abbey of San Pietro en Valle in Italy. Centuries later, the demon is accidentally freed and possesses visiting teacher Elizabeth Magrino (Laura Schaefer). David Schmoeller started his directorial career with the excellent offbeat horror Tourist Trap and followed that with the oddball Klaus Kinski chiller Crawlspace, but his later career saw him turn to schlocky B-movies for Charles Band's Full Moon studio. With its religious setting and a cool Omen-esque score by Pino Donaggio, it initially seems as though Catacombs might be a little classier, but in the end, it just another piece of straight-to-video nonsense, but one that isn't trashy enough to be fun: the film is very light on the gore and features no gratuitous nudity whatsoever, redheaded beauty Schaefer staying fully clothed throughout. Half of the film consists of shots of people walking down a spiral staircase and through the tunnels of the catacombs; everyone does it at least once. Much of the remainder sees the same people pretending to be struck by the demon's supernatural force. It all gets very boring. There's not much in the way of special effects to speak of, the budget only allowing for a smoke machine, a wind machine, some white slap and a pair of black contact lenses. The much touted 'Jesus coming alive on the cross' scene is very disappointing: it's just a bloke wearing a nappy, a bad wig and fake beard, and the subsequent killing of a monk with one of the crucifixion nails is totally gore-free. The ending, in which Father John Durham (Timothy Van Patten) banishes the demon with a heavenly beam of light reflected off a golden monstrance, makes no sense at all and closes the film in a very unsatisfactory manner.

I'm usually a big fan of cheesy Charles Band horror productions, but this was was pretty bad. The story is about a demon trapped in a monastery 400 years ago who gets inadvertently released. This film is lacking any kind of knowing campiness, which makes most Band productions unpretentiously entertaining, with camp ranging from subtle, such as "From Beyond," to the ridiculous (and ridiculously fun) "Killjoy" films. This production simply did not have the budget or behind the scenes talent to pull off something like "The Exorcist" or "The Church," which this film clearly wanted to be. The film does boast a classy score by Pino Donaggio, but that's about it.

A demon that's been trapped in a monastery for four hundred years gets unleashed after troubled priest Father John Durham (a fine and likable performance by Timothy Van Patten) and sweet school teacher Elizabeth Magrino (a sound and appealing portrayal by the lovely Laura Schaeffer) arrive at said monastery. Director David Schmoeller, who also co-wrote the smart and involving script with R. Baker Price, relates the engrossing story at a steady pace, does an ace job of crafting a creepy atmosphere rife with dread and unease, stages the shock scenes with flair, handles the religious angle with tact and taste, and makes excellent use of the dusty sprawling abbey location. The monks in the monastery are a colorful and interesting bunch: Ian Abercrombie as the jolly superior Brother Orsini, Jeremy West as the dour and fanatical Brother Marinus, Vernon Dobtcheff as the friendly Brother Timothy, and Feoder Chaliapin as the sickly and dying Father Terrel. Moreover, this movie is notable for an striking sequence in which a statue of Christ comes to malevolent life and kills a priest. The big climactic confrontation between good and evil manages to be pretty thrilling and satisfying without resorting to the usual flashy pyrotechnics. Kudos are also in order for Sergio Salvati's handsome cinematography and Pino Donaggio's beautifully eerie score. A neat little fright film.

Yes, you may notice that the fourth Curse move was made two years after the third. We can blame that on the fact that it was the last officially completed film by Empire Pictures before the company was seized for failure to pay on loans. This delayed the movie by five years and TriStar Home Video released it direct-to-video as Curse IV: The Ultimate Sacrifice with no connection to The Curse, The Curse II: The Bite or The Curse III: Blood Sacrifice. It's directed and written by David Schmoeller, whose Tourist Trap and Puppet Master are both great movies. Teacher Elizabeth Magrino arrives at the Abbey of San Pietro en Valle to see the abbey's first Prior had his vision healed within the catacombs thanks to the Miracle of the Celestial Light. There's also the issue of a demon that had been trapped in the monastery that has now possessed an albino leper, which is really a sentence that you should go back and read again. Making this movie work is a solid Italian crew, including cinematography by Sergio Salvati (The Beyond, The House by the Cemetery), a score by Pino Donaggio and production design by Giovanni Natalucci (Once Upon a Time in America, The Stendhal Syndrome). There's one scene worth watching this movie for, as a possessed statue of Jesus remembers how amazing The Eerie Midnight Horror Show was and gets down off the cross and kills a monk.

Originally filmed in 1988 under the title Catacombs but not released until 1993 due to the production company's bankruptcy, Curse IV is a surprisingly entertaining film. Under the direction of frequent Charles Band collaborator David Schmoeller, the film creates a strong feeling of unease early on and keeps the suspense going fairly strong throughout. Feodor Chaliapin is especially memorable as a dying priest. He comes across with just the right amount of sincerity so that one could honestly see him as a man of the cloth. While far from the greatest film to come out of Empire Pictures, Curse IV is still a fun movie that is worth a look sometime.

This is a movie I never saw before until just recently. I had borrowed a 2-disc set of low-budget 80's horror movies and this was on it. So I watched it and I was genuinely impressed to a degree. The acting is kind of well-rounded. You got your actors who are okay and your actors who are good and know how to act. The movie is genuinely scary, although halfway through and closer to the end it does add a couple scenes that are a little bit more hammy. The plot involves a monastery in Italy. The film opens during the middle ages actually. We see some monks trying to perform an exorcism on this very decrepit looking man. One of the monks ends up getting possessed, but the keep the evil at bay by sealing the room with some kind of holy seal/symbol. It then goes into modern day. Where a young girl who is studying to be a teacher for a religious school goes to the monastery to learn some more things about the holy church. Some weird things go on and a lot of the monks, especially this crazy, but very religiously devout one, blame it on her, calling her evil and unclean. It turns out the possessed man in the basement was more than just a possessed person, but is actually The Beast Of The Apocalypse, THE ANTICHRIST HIMSELF!! The musical score was excellent. It reminds you of the omen soundtrack, how it is mostly string portions paired with dark sounding Latin chanting. It is genuinely creepy and enhances the film. The cinematography is excellent, and a lot of scenes, especially the ones inside the catacombs are very well shot. You do get a real sense of dread and horror seeing the catacombs, and you can almost feel the Antichrist evil just looking at it. For a Charles Band production this is very well done. Arguably one of his best. I was surprised how dark, gritty, realistic, and deep this was for his films. I love watching his movies because I like low-budget 80's horror/sci-fi/dark fantasy stuff. I know his stuff did tend to get cheesy and schlock, especially with Dollman and the Troll films, but this was a new level for him and it was impressive. If you like films like Omen,Exorcist,The Sentinel, any of those possession/apocalypse type films, this one is definitely worth watching. I give this 8 out of 10.

Catacombs isn't a bad film, the actors are quite believable and do a good job, and the story keeps you mildly engaged. However, this isn't really a proper horror film as there is little gore or scares. There's a lot of mumbo jumbo about demons which is hard to follow. Apparently it's all to do with a demon trapped underneath the monastery, causing strange things to happen. There was one good scene where a statue of Jesus comes alive and kills a man, and I suspect anyone deeply religious would be offended by Catacombs for this reason. I wouldn't recommend this film to horror fans as it's neither here nor there. It's not bad but not that great either.